LAST GROUP/vintage hong kong figures

hello again
recently, i found some of the old toys i inherited from my dad which he had in the late 60s/early 70s. they are hong kong made (copies of well known brands of that time like Britains, etc) wild animals and a few farm animals, but some are unmarked and seem like copies of copies. they are pretty well-detailed for knock-offs. here are some that i managed to take pics of, and need some cleaning badly. (i will post pics of the remaining few dozens in my vintage figures box soon.). thanks for viewing and more info regarding them would be highly appreciated. :)

asian rhinos (the one on the right is unmarked and looks like a copy of another copy)

bisons

wild boar, asian rhino and bactrian camel

sow

bison (red version)

bactrian camel and lion (copies of hong kong figures)

asian elephant, gorilla and sable(?) (copies of hong kong figures)

kangaroo and baby (unmarked)

pangolin (unmarked) and armadillo (hong kong)


thats all for now. :)

Very nice animals, thank You for showing They look like Britains copies indeed and I think I had few of these in the past, for example grey kangaroo and wild boar And I like armadillo very much too For more info, wait for some of our forum experts

the 1st left rhino, elephant, kangaroo, roaring lion are all MARX copies- the pangolin and bactrian camel in the middle are almost certinally origional BLUEBOX- were sold in woollies in late 70's when I got mine.
The giant armadillo is a surprisingly common figure and appears in numerous sets but is a elastolin copy.
Harriet is correct and the sable, gorilla,left bison, PIG, wild boar and rhino and camels are all BRITAINS COPIES. The turned head bison is ARCO or an arco copy, it is the rarest in the HONG KONG sets you could get in Uk but very common in USA.
Im thining out my collection of HONGKONG copies and probably have shoebox fulls if anyones intrested!

They are SO fun
I alway love it when somebody shows these humble, hardworking toys from the past.

The bison to the left looks almost like the ones from Plaho. The one right looks really nice, - as does the pangolin and armadillo .

Can you really sell the models that your dad collected ?

Very nice set of figures, I love the pangolin.

Very interesting figures, thanks for showing! :)
I only have some Britains and friends and Susanne is right, the left bison looks a lot as the Plaho one. The pangolin and armadillo are also very interesting!

Congratulation!!!

SUSANNE wrote:

They are SO fun
I alway love it when somebody shows these humble, hardworking toys from the past.

The bison to the left looks almost like the ones from Plaho. The one right looks really nice, - as does the pangolin and armadillo .

Can you really sell the models that your dad collected ?

my dad originally owned and collected them but i ended up owning them. :)
for now i dont think i will be selling any because of sentimental value. i remember having other figures too that ive lost when i was a small child (like the malay tapir and other interesting ones).


and thanks for the other nice comments and infos. i will post more pics soon.

I can understand when you don't want to get rid of these oldies.
I have loads of them from my youth to.
Some are Britains copies indeed, although smaller in a lot of cases.
On the other side models like the pangolin and armadillo, and some more, are only known to me as real Hong Kong or Singapore critters, i never saw these models in other brands from the 1960's and 1970's...

thanks for the comments. here are more old figures.

large (3"-4") unknown brand


another group of unknown brand (can anyone please identify the brand?) figs


various Hong Kong made figures


Hong Kong big cats


one color farm/domestic animals (no belly info). donkeys, foals, boxer, setter, pekingese.


one color zoo animals (no belly info)


various farm animals (fowls, kitten, rabbit, lamb, cow and calf)


thanks for viewing.

Very nice animals again Thank You for showing! I like crane from the first photo, very nice

robertelephant wrote:

The giant armadillo is a surprisingly common figure and appears in numerous sets but is a elastolin copy.

I don't think so Robert, HAUSSER ELASTOLIN never produced such a small armadillo and the only one they produced was this big composition armadillo

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

On the other side models like the pangolin and armadillo, and some more, are only known to me as real Hong Kong or Singapore critters, i never saw these models in other brands from the 1960's and 1970's...

I guess the original is the PRIOR

They seemed to be JEAN HOFFLER - WEST GERMANY copies

:) :)


Congratulations, our love for animal figures began with these animals.

I like it:

Congratulations! The armadillo is gorgeous

thank you for all the nice comments. :)

The top picture, I think are origionals, never seen them before.Duck and crane very nice indeed!

Lion camel bear tiger are the GERMAN BRAND COPIES, anyone remember the name? they make some really nice almost flat figures- the wisent is brilliant! , I cant think.

Next picture, BRITAINS copies of grey kangaroos, gorilla, and giraffe, a MARX dog copy- shiba inu I think, and the deformed face kangaroo and zebra just hong kong!

Next CHEETAH – yes I know its more like a leopard but its supposed to be a cheetah is from an American set, BLUE BOX copy . Snarly tigers are MARX LARGE SCALE, crouching tigerMARX , same scale as produced copies.Lion cub might be a 60’s BRITAINS. Crouching leopard based on BRITAINS also a copy

Farm, BRITAINS copies walking donkey and both foals.

Next MARX white tailed deer and baby elephant- from large series again, COPIES. Lion and tiger BRITAINS copies, note how the lion doesn’t have his paw up in the copies so he stands up easier.

The last farm, BRITAINS copy calf, geese on sprue and rabbit. Lamb from the classic HONG KONG farm set with the stable block!Small cow tiny britains dariry cow copy.
Big poultry Cherilea I think- I only ever had the black hen- and the Cat- mystery!

When I was a lad, God I sound old!- the Britains were the prefered figures, large heavy dont usually fall over and well painted and detailed- FOR THE TIME!
The hongkongs though were cheap and you could get a packet of 20ish plus fences and trees for maybe 50p wheras one britains zebra was 30p!Back then it meant you would have usually dozens of baby elephants/rhinos or giraffes for each ADULT you had!!!A lot of kids played with them seperatly as they were so different! In each pack some would be missing body parts, painting was erratic or missing, blue tigers and green kangaroos were coomon!Snobbery value had the britains were best!But with the hong kong copies each pack was a surprise as all sorts of unique animals britains didnt make could appear, such as a big marabou, armadillo, pangolin, aardvark, longhorn cattle, bighorn, kudu, langur monkeys etc!And you could get them everywhere, sweet shops, newsagents, at the railway station, in a cafe, ANYWHERE youd see packs of HONGKONG animals, soldiers and cowbys hanging up for sale!
I still have many huge banana boxes FULL of these figures!!!

Re the armadillo, I had one for years what I was told was an elastolin one, exactly like the HONGKONG one shown it had the same weird feet, it was compostion and BIG- 3 inch plus! I also still have hong kong copies which were nicer with a more realistic walking feet mould - they were hongkongs bought in W Germany and you cleared that up they are- prior copies!, hadn’t seen the original before!Is PRIOR plastic or metal or composition.
Unfortunatley I had to sell ALL my elastolin to pay for ELEPHANT SCHOOL in the States many years ago!!!! It was in a good cause!

Interesting imput Robert, thanks! :)

Indeed a very interesting story Robert!
I love it, it sounds much like my youth!
You exactly desribed the original manufacturers, that saves me a lot of writing this time...
That is the advantage of beeing older, you saw them all pass by...

thanks for all the information, and the stories are very fascinating and interesting.

robertelephant wrote:

Re the armadillo, I had one for years what I was told was an elastolin one, exactly like the HONGKONG one shown it had the same weird feet, it was compostion and BIG- 3 inch plus! I also still have hong kong copies which were nicer with a more realistic walking feet mould - they were hongkongs bought in W Germany and you cleared that up they are- prior copies!, hadn’t seen the original before!Is PRIOR plastic or metal or composition.
Unfortunatley I had to sell ALL my elastolin to pay for ELEPHANT SCHOOL in the States many years ago!!!! It was in a good cause!

PRIOR were plastic made, a kind of BRITAINS plastic and they also made some BRITAINS copies and some original too, like this armadillo and the aardvark which was copied by ARCO and HK brands.

here is the last group of my vintage figures. some of them are damaged badly (broken leg, chewed off ear, etc.). thanks again everyone. :)

Thanks for showing, I love see them altogether! Very, very nice!

HONG-KONG copies...

The hippo is found in many Hong Kong sets of the 1970's, i have several different variations from it.
the horse is the same story, very often made in several colours and sizes.

I have a HK copy of that big Britains giraffe to, and it is an early one, which often means, that the quality is almost the same as the original.


This is the original Britains, item number 1348.
Very hard to find in a mint condition, so with all of the spots left.


This is an early HK copy, the same quality and detail as the original


This is a later HK copy as yours, you see the quality go down, as the moulds are worn out in time...